Grateful
by MoonlightSpirit
Summary: HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Based on Ben 10: Alien Force. Kevin and his mother are invited to Gwen's house for Thanksgiving. But why is Kevin so quiet and stiff? And what does it have to do with the accident with the Omnitrix? Can Gwen help him out?


**HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Yeah, I'm know I'm late with a thanksgiving fic :P I've been super busy lately and couldn't find time to write this. But here it is! Here's **_**Grateful**_**! Enjoy!**

_**PLEASE READ THIS**_**: This takes place after the **_**War of the Worlds **_**episode, and Kevin has his ID mask.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10: Alien Force.**

Ben, Gwen and Kevin were relaxing at Mr. Smoothie after a recent battle with another alien.

"Ben, you and your parents are coming over for Thanksgiving, right?" Gwen asked her cousin from her seat on top of Kevin's car hood.

"Sure," Ben said with a wide grin, "There's no way I'm missing your mom's potato salad. Plus it's either that or Thanksgiving with Grandpa. Remember the last Thanksgiving we had at Grandpa's." Gwen winced at the memory.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Gwen said, "I still want to puke at the thought of that chicken gizzard and squid stuffing. What are you doing Kevin?"

"Nothing," Kevin said nonchalantly. Gwen looked at him, wide-eyed.

"What do you mean nothing?" she asked, "You can't just do nothing on Thanksgiving."

"Money's kinda tight now," Kevin said, avoiding Ben and Gwen's eyes, "So mom and I are skipping the big Thanksgiving dinner this year."

"Why don't you and your mother come over my house?" Gwen asked, tossing her empty smoothie cup into the trash can.

"Are you sure?" Kevin asked, "You're parents will be okay with it?"

"Sure," Gwen said, "Totally."

**Thanksgiving Day**

Gwen darted back and forth between the dining room and the kitchen, helping her parents bring in food. The house was full of the smell of turkey, ham, candied yams, macaroni and cheese and a lot of other foods. Gwen's parents always went all out on Thanksgiving, cooking almost every dish under the sun.

Most of their relatives were already there. Little cousins ran around in the living room, playing with a few of Gwen's old toys that she had dug out of the attic, and adults were sitting around, talking about what had happened since they had last seen each other.

Gwen went back into the kitchen just in time to see Ben try to sneak a taste of chocolate frosting on the cake. She summoned up a small ball of pink energy in her hand and flung it at Ben's head.

"Ow!" Ben said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Touch that cake and you'll lose your hand," Gwen threatened, "I spent four hours on it to get it perfect."

Ben frowned and walked out of kitchen.

"And hands off the marshmallows on the candied yams," Gwen shouted after him.

"Darn it!" came Ben's voice from the dining room, "It's like she reads minds!" Gwen went upstairs to fix her hair and change her clothes for dinner. She curled her hair into waves and traded her old jeans, t-shirt and flats for a short sleeve, royal blue cable knit sweater dress with a cowl neck collar and shiny black belt around her waist and a pair of black ankle boots.

"Gwen, Kevin and his mom are here!" Ben yelled upstairs. Gwen felt her heart beat a hindered times faster than usual. She put on some pink lip gloss, smoky, dark brown eye shadow, black eyeliner and mascara and a large gold bracelet and gold hoop earrings. She double checked her reflection before going downstairs.

It took a while to find Kevin among the crowded room of family members. Eventually, she spotted him in the corner of the room, arms crossed over his chest. He looked handsome in a black button down shirt, black blazer, dark jeans, and black sneakers. Next to him, sitting on the couch and talking to Gwen's parents, was who Gwen guessed was Kevin's mother. Both Kevin and his mother had the same onyx black eyes. His mother was a small, slightly chubby, pretty woman. She had pale skin and waist long straight black hair. She was wearing an emerald been blouse and black skirt with black pumps. Her cheerful face was a great contrast to Kevin's tense face. Although a small smile did flicker across Kevin's face when he saw Gwen headed his way.

"You made it!" Gwen said happily, giving him a hug.

"Of course," Kevin said. He pulled back a bit, but kept one arm around Gwen's waist.

"Gwen, this is my mother Isabella," Kevin said, "Mom, this is Gwen."

"Nice to meet you Gwen," Isabella said, holding out a hand to Gwen.

"It's nice to meet you too Mrs. Levin," Gwen said, shaking Isabella's hand.

"Kevin has told me so much about you," Isabella said, "He talks about you all the time."

"Mom," Kevin groaned. His mother giggled. She and Gwen made small talk for a while until Gwen noticed something about Kevin's arm round her waist. It was unusually stiff and Kevin had been oddly quite the whole time. Gwen looked up at him to find him standing there stiff, his lips pressed in a thin line.

"Kevin, are you feeling okay?" Gwen asked, "You look a little ill."

"Yeah, I am feeling a bit sick," Kevin said, "Mind if I use the restroom?"

"Of course not, I'll show you where it is," Gwen said. She took Kevin's hand, leading him through the crowd of family members and upstairs. But instead of going to the bathroom, Kevin pulled Gwen into her room, closing the door behind him and letting out a breath.

"Kevin, are you okay?" Gwen asked.

"I haven't been good in crowds lately," Kevin said, "Since…the accident."

"How come?" Gwen asked. Kevin groaned, running a hand through his hair.

"I feel so, out of place," he said, "Even with the ID mask on. I feel like a monster like shouldn't be around normal people." Gwen sighed and walked right up to Kevin so that they were practically nose to nose. She cupped his face in her hands.

"You're not a monster," she said, "How many times do I have to tell you that?" Kevin looked down at his shoes.

"You don't understand," he mumbled. Gwen shook her head.

"No you don't," Gwen said, "Thanksgiving is about being thankful for things right. Do you know what I'm thankful for Kevin?"

"What?" Kevin asked. Gwen slowly removed the ID mask, revealing Kevin's stone, metal, wooden and Diamondhead body.

"I'm thankful for knowing the real you," she said, "The guy that you try to hide behind that tough façade. And I'm thankful that you are not the monster that you see yourself to be. A monster is created by what someone does, not what they look like."

"Gwen…" Kevin whispered. Gwen's hands trailed down from Kevin's cheeks, along his neck, and down his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"You're beautiful," she murmured into his chest. Kevin paused for a moment, and then wrapped his arms around her.

"And I love you," she said. Kevin looked down at her, wide eyed.

"Love?" he asked. Gwen nodded. Kevin tightened his arms around her and murmured into her hair, "I love you too. And I'm thankful that somehow, fate or destiny or something brought us together." Gwen smiled up at him and stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Kevin's cool, stone lips. Kevin pulled Gwen closer, deepening the kiss…until a knock on the door interrupted them.

"Food's ready," said Ben from the other side, "You better get downstairs." Kevin chuckled and picked up his ID mask off the floor.

"No need to scare the normal folk," he said, putting it on and regaining his normal look. Kevin, a bright smile on his face that Gwen never saw there before, held out an arm to Gwen.

"Shall we?" he asked. Gwen giggled, hooking her arm through his.

"We shall," she said. And the two teens made their way downstairs with a newfound thankfulness that they had each other.

**There's **_**Grateful**_**! I hope you liked it! Please Review!**


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